Close up of the acrylic canopy being analyzed by our conservation staff and Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI).
Waiting for an update on the conservation and restoration of our Horten H IX V3 “Bat-wing Ship?” Here’s the latest! Our conservation staff, in collaboration with curator Russ Lee, is working with the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI) to figure out the materials and technologies used to craft the Horten H IX V3. For example, the transparent canopy was analyzed with a portable Raman spectrometer and determined to be a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) plastic. PMMA was developed by Rohm and Haas in the mid-1930s in Germany and the United States, and the material is reputed to have been incorporated quickly into aircraft canopies, gun turrets, and transparent noses. It is lightweight, impact resistant, relatively easy to form, and transmits light even better than glass. In this instance, identifying the canopy as PMMA confirms what we already expected from our research of trade literature from that period. It also shows how studying our collection, visually and with analytical tools like MCIs Raman spectrometer, provides direct physical evidence of an aircraft’s manufacture, which enriches our understanding of the history of early plastics in aviation.
Raman spectroscopy identifies materials by shining a laser beam at a surface and measuring the energy distribution of inelastically scattered light. It is potentially non-destructive and does not require removing a sample from the aircraft. MCIs spectrometer weighs only 6 lbs. and fits in a convenient “carry on” sized suitcase for trips out to the Udvar-Hazy Center and other Smithsonian museums.
Lauren Horelick is a objects conservator in the Collections Department of the National Air and Space Museum.
Thanks for the update – any info on when it will move to Udvar-Hazy? Thanks!
Any ideas when she will be available for public view or how one can be authorized to photograph her??
Thanks for the update. It’s good to know that you are moving on to looking at things other than the fuselage in general. Does that mean that you’ve reached a conclusion or conclusions about the overall state of the structure, it’s preservation and future display?
I note you said in your July 2012 posting that “Summer interns working with scientists at the Museum Conservation Institute are contributing to the materials identification effort. We will blog the results at the end of this summer.” I never found that update. Did it get posted?
Has a decision been made on whether the wings will be mated to the fuselage? Looking again at some of the photo’s I’m inclined to think that it would be interesting to see inside the structure of the wing, if it’s not mated.
On the point of displaying the exhibit, I’ve previously mailed to say that it would be good to know that it’s displayed so that visitors can walk all the way around it, in order to really appreciate the HOIX’s unique form. Can that be considered? I’ve been to so many aviation museums here in the UK where, due to lack of space, important exhibits are placed side by side with no access around the side and back. It would be a tragedy if this happened in the case of the HOIX and it were ‘crammed into a corner’ so to speak. What are the museum’s thoughts on this I wander? Do you feel that it would be better appreciated with access all round?
For all HOIX nerds out there; if you’ve not seen it before, you may be interested to know that National Geographic made a programme about the building of the HOIX replica about 3 years ago. I was delighted to find it, in full, on YouTube recently. If you’ve not already seen it, it’s available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3UFvYQoiTI Putting aside its histrionics and fantasising, it’s a really good watch and well worth looking up.
Thanks for all the good work you’re doing there.
its a shame!!!!!!!!!!